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Exploring Theme: "Supreme Court"
Updates on this page: 33
April 15, 2024
Blood Tribe ‘Big Claim’ time-barred, but Supreme Court provides declaration in Crown’s ‘dishonourable’ conduct
Supreme Court of Canada Judge Michelle O’Bonsawin WindSpeaker.com: The Supreme Court of Canada has helped to restore the honour of the Crown by issuing a declaration in the Blood Tribe’s ‘Big Claim’ on April 12. The claim asserts that Canada shorted the Blood Tribe, located in southern Alberta, 162.5 square miles of reserve land promised...
April 12, 2024
Canada broke its treaty promise, but Blood Tribe is barred from suing, Supreme Court rules
High court upholds time limits on filing of treaty-based lawsuits CBC Indigenous: Canada acted dishonourably by breaking its treaty obligations to the Blood Tribe in Alberta but the band is barred from suing by the province’s statute of limitations, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. The high court on Friday handed down a unanimous decision...
February 28, 2024
Court judgment gives Canada, Ontario 60 days to pay out $10B treaty settlement
Partial judgement ordering funds to be transferred to 21 First Nations included in 1850 Robinson Huron Treaty handed down in Ontario Superior Court this week NationTalk: SooToday.com – The $10-billion settlement awarded to Robinson Huron Treaty annuitants for past compensation is slated to be distributed to 21 First Nations included in the treaty in the...
November 29, 2023
SON asking Supreme Court to weigh in on Bruce Peninsula claim
First Peoples Law Report: The Owen Sound Sun Times – Saugeen Ojibway Nation wants the Supreme Court to consider whether the Crown owed a fiduciary duty to them and whether it was breached when the Crown didn’t stop settlers from moving into the Bruce Peninsula, which was promised to SON. It’s asking the Supreme Court...
November 9, 2023
Supreme Court of Canada hears case on broken treaty promises with up to $126-billion award on the line
The case involving First Nations in northern Ontario could redefine what Canada and Ontario owe to Anishinaabe treaty beneficiaries. Toronto Star: OTTAWA—A landmark case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada this week could leave the federal and provincial governments on the hook for a $126-billion award to First Nations in northern Ontario for failing...
November 7, 2023
Robinson Huron First Nations disappointed with Ontario’s appeal of Robinson Huron Treaty annuities case
NationTalk: Ottawa, ON— On November 7 and 8, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the Government of Ontario’s appeal to the decision made by the Ontario Court of Appeals \ONCA\ on matters related to the Robinson Huron annuities case. In 2021, the Government of Ontario appealed Justice Hennessy’s Stage 1 and 2 decisions....
November 2, 2023
Treaty Rights at the Supreme Court of Canada: Restoule Appeal: First People’s Law Report
In the following post, my colleagues Kate Gunn and Cody O’Neil provide an overview of the upcoming Restoule appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada and its implications for First Nations defending and advancing their Treaty rights across the country. I hope you find it informative and helpful. You can also read it on our website. Best, Bruce Treaty Rights...
October 26, 2023
Limitations Legislation and Treaty Rights at the Supreme Court: First Peoples Law Report
In the following post, my colleague Kate Gunn summarizes the points raised in our submissions at the Supreme Court last week, where we had the privilege of representing the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta in their intervention in the Jim Shot Both Sides appeal. I hope you find it informative and helpful. You can also read it on...
October 12, 2023
Supreme Court hears arguments on time limitations to bring claims of treaty obligation breaches
“The Treaty 8 First Nations submit that the Crown’s treaty promises must always be fulfilled. And that limitations legislation should not ever be used as basis to prevent the fulfillment of those obligations.” — Kate Gunn, legal counsel for Treaty 8 First Nations in Alberta Supreme Court of Canada Justices (from left to right): Hon....
October 6, 2023
Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan before the Supreme Court of Canada for a fair funding of Indigenous police forces
NationTalk: MASHTEUIATSH, QC, Oct. 6, 2023 – Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan is well determined to gain a true recognition of its police services while the process to obtain fair funding for its police force continues before the highest court in the country. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has announced this morning that it will hear the...
July 3, 2023
Ontario is still appealing the Robinson Treaties case to the Supreme Court, despite proposed settlement
The province’s appeal will be heard in the fall CBC News: An out of court settlement agreement has been reached with one group of plaintiffs, but litigation in the Robinson treaties case is far from over. The Supreme Court of Canada is slated to hear Ontario’s appeal in November. The case concerns a promise made...
June 12, 2023
Supreme Court refuses to hear Métis harvesting rights case, sets in motion more expansive claim
The lower court will now have to fully consider the evidence that Métis are migratory and, as such, are a community of interconnected settlements spread across a large land mass Windspeaker.com: Canada’s highest court will not hear a case of two Red River Métis men in Saskatchewan who were charged and convicted for unlawfully harvesting,...
March 22, 2023
Supreme Court hears important federalism case without its only Indigenous member
The Globe and Mail: The first Indigenous judge in the Supreme Court’s 148-year history has been left off a case with important consequences for Indigenous peoples, so the court could avoid the possibility of a tie vote. With one of its nine members caught up in a disciplinary process, Chief Justice Richard Wagner chose to hear a...
March 16, 2023
In Brief: Jim Shot Both Sides, et al. v. His Majesty the King
In Brief: Jim Shot Both Sides, et al. v. His Majesty the KingBy Kate Gunn and Tyler SwanWhat it’s AboutThe Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether First Nations can be barred from bringing claims based on breaches of the Crown’s treaty obligations under provincial limitation periods. What happenedThe Blood Tribe brought an action against Canada for...
February 7, 2023
The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in a case involving Treaty rights and limitations law
First Peoples Law Report Summary 40153 Jim Shot Both Sides, et al. v. His Majesty the King (Federal) (Civil) (By Leave) Keywords Aboriginal law – Treaty rights, Limitation of actions – Aboriginal law — Treaty rights — Treaty 7 — Breach of treaty as cause of action — Limitation of actions — Whether limitation periods...
February 5, 2023
Supreme Court to hear Charter appeal testing Indigenous residency rules
The Globe and Mail: Cindy Dickson was born and raised in Yukon’s northernmost community of Old Crow, but left for an education and job opportunities. Today, she is the founding director of an international forum in which eight countries address issues in the Arctic. And she wants to give back to Old Crow by running...
January 31, 2023
Dollar value of resources to be debated as final stage of treaty annuities trial begins
One group of plaintiffs in confidential settlement talks while other continues with litigation CBC News: The final stage of a complex trial over the payment of treaty annuities in northern Ontario kicked off Monday with one group of plaintiffs pursuing negotiations and the other in court panning the provincial government. The case concerns a clause...
January 18, 2023
Canada, Ontario, and Robinson Huron Treaty Leadership Announce two-week mediation
Robinson Huron leadership assembled at a closed-door Special Chiefs Meeting in Sudbury, Ont., on Jan. 16 to confer with their legal team from Nahwegahbow Corbiere Genoodmagejig Barristers & Solicitors in preparation for the historic mediation NationTalk: ANISHINANBEKNEWS.ca: SUDBURY — Canada and Ontario were in a tight corner: staring down a dispassionate, nonpartisan court set to...
November 4, 2022
Native Women’s Association of Canada says Supreme Court decision undermines Gladue framework and perpetuates overincarceration of Indigenous women
NationTalk: OTTAWA – The following are remarks by Adam Bond, Manager of Legal Services for the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), following the release of the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of His Majesty the King in Right of Canada v. Cheyenne Sharma, to which NWAC was an intervenor:...
October 20, 2022
Supreme Court will not hear from St. Anne’s residential school survivors
OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada said Thursday it will not to heara case of residential school survivors who have fought a years-long battle against Ottawa to release thousands of records. The group of survivors from St. Anne’s residential school in northern Ontario had looked to the country’s highest court after spending the last...
October 12, 2022
Supreme Court to hear case on whether Indigenous governments are subject to Charter scrutiny
NationTalk: The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) has been granted leave to intervene in a landmark case dealing with the scope of section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and how this provision’s guarantee of rights for Indigenous people interacts with the Charter. Section 25 of the Charter provides that “[t]he guarantee in...
March 26, 2022
Is denial of conditional sentences for Indigenous people systemic racism? The Supreme Court will decide
The Toronto Star (Windspeaker.com) – The Supreme Court of Canada will be weighing the arguments it heard March 23 to determine whether the inability to make conditional sentencing available in some cases amounts to systemic racism for Indigenous offenders, infringing on their Charter rights. In 2012, the Criminal Code was amended through the Safe Streets...
February 17, 2022
Blood Tribe “Big Claim” statute of limitations appeal going to Supreme Court
Feb. 17, 2022: Aboriginal Law Report: Lethbridge NewsNow – In an update to the Big Claim appeal, the Blood Tribe will take the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada. The appeal was filed by the Canadian Government from the decision of the Federal Court, finding that the trial judge determined that under the terms of the Blackfoot...
October 1, 2021
Supreme Court validates Honour of the Crown
Métis Nation of Ontario, Métis Nation of Alberta – The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in City of Toronto v Ontario (Attorney General). This case was about the fairness of a municipal election in one city, but the decision also raised the issue of how Canada’s Constitution is to be interpreted and the...
July 16, 2021
Lac Seul First Nation
iPolitics –The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 8-1 that a $30-million award to the Lac Seul First Nation, located in northwestern Ontario, to cover the federal government’s intentional flooding of its reserve land in 1929 was insufficient, and has sent the case back to trial to be re-evaluated. In doing so, the top court...
January 22, 2021
Beaver Lake Partial Advance Cost Award
LAC-LA BICHE, AB: Beaver Lake First Nations – The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal the decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal overturning Beaver Lake Cree Nations’ partial advanced cost award. After ten years of litigation, including 5 years where Alberta and Canada unsuccessfully tried to strike its claim, the Beaver Lake...
October 28, 2020
Lac Seul First Nation
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) – Supreme Court of Canada grants intervener status to AMC, along with many others, in the Southwind case. Lac Seul Band launched the suit against the Federal Government for breaching their fiduciary duty when they flooded reserve land to advance a hydro-electric project. This project would see massive profits for...
September 25, 2020
Lac Seul First Nation
Dryden Now – In 1929, the Ear Falls Dam was built to supply hydroelectric power to Ontario and Manitoba, but flooded over 11,000 acres of Lac Seul First Nation’s reserve lands and burial sites that same year. Chief Derek Maud says it’s disappointing and unacceptable that Canada has not addressed the outstanding issue, and he...
September 21, 2020
First Nation constitutional orders are distinct but equal to Euro-Canadian laws
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) – will be intervening at the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in a significant and potentially transformational hearing to argue that First Nation constitutional orders are distinct but equal to Euro-Canadian laws. On the surface, the case is about the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, the federal government’s carbon tax,...
July 2, 2020
Trans Mountain Pipeline Appeal
Vancouver (Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territory- The Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Coldwater Indian Band – have been denied leave to appeal by the Supreme Court of Canada. “We are extremely disappointed by today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada,” said Chief Leah George-Wilson. It reduces consultation to a purely procedural requirement that will...
April 23, 2020
Lac Seul First Nation
First Peoples Law -The Supreme Court of Canada granted Lac Seul First Nation’s application for leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Southwind v. Canada. The Supreme Court is expected to clarify how equitable compensation is calculated where a First Nation’s reserve lands have been taken or damaged by the Crown in...
April 7, 2020
Trans Mountain Pipeline Appeal
The Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Ts’elxwéyeqw Tribes and Coldwater Indian Band – announce they are seeking leave for appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. These four First Nations have fought and challenged the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) Project through every Federal court. They now intend to seek a challenge at the Supreme Court...
February 2, 2019
Delgamuukw decision and the Tsilhqot’in decision
Policy Options – Continued refusal to accept Aboriginal title as defined by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Delgamuukw decision and the Tsilhqot’in decision. The Supreme Court of Canada similarly recognizes in Delgamuukw that constitutionally protected Aboriginal title is not created by Canadian law; rather, Aboriginal title “arises from the prior occupation of Canada...